As a young adult, I’ve had my fair share of experiences in different economical environments: low class, middle class and even extremely rich people. Thanks to this; I’ve been noticing a pattern, specially for the last 5 years: not only do you have more privileges and freedoms as your economical status increases in terms of education, health, time flexibility and job opportunities, but wealthier people also have a huge privilege nowadays that most people aren’t talking about: the privilege to be offline.
I first noticed this when I started to pay attention to other people and the services restaurants offered to customers during the post-pandemic era. As the restaurant leveled up in exclusivity, sophistication and price, I would observe the next patterns in my table and the other tables that I would begin to list in my notebook:
After QR menus became mandatory because of COVID, many cafés, restaurants and pubs still use it even if it isn’t necessary anymore, and most places won’t even offer you a physical menu unless you ask for it: The only non-digital way to check the menu is to stand up and go to the cashier or the entrance to check the big display menu. Even then, many beverages and meals aren’t available in the display menu unless you check the QR. This means that most of the time you need to bring a smart device with internet, usually a smartphone, to read the QR codes or have a companion who brings it. However, this doesn’t happen in more luxurious establishments. Yes, you can check the menu through the website and a QR code, but they will always give you a physical menu without asking for it. To be exact, most costumers won’t even use the QR code or the website unless they need to check beforehand for allergies or intolerances. My wealthier friends even said this to me while we walked to the restaurant.
In the past, when smartphones didn’t exist or were less common, we would stock visitation cards to call the place and reserve a table, learn the directions to reach it if we didn’t know it by memory and know when they open and when they close. Today, it’s practically impossible to get a visitation card. Ask at McDonald’s or Starbucks if they have a visitation card, most of the the time they will look at you funny and tell you you can search the place in your smartphone. And this doesn’t only happen in fast food chains. But not in rich people establishments. You don’t even have to ask for it, they give it to you personally with the bill, although you can get it at the entrance (or ask the waiter to get you as many cards as you want, they will happily do it and won’t look at you funny). The most wealthy people won’t even use their phone to get this essential info, since they have visitation cards in their purse, at home, or will ask a worker to provide this info to them.
Wealthier people use their phones less when they go out. Obviously, this depends on the person, but most of them won’t use their phone unless they have to make an important call or text someone briefly. Very occasionally, they will use it to snap a photo of the people on the table. And nothing more. Most of them will keep their phones at their bag for the entire time. Even if children and teenagers use their phone a little bit more, this goes for wealthy people of any age. If you talk to them, they will tell you most of them don’t even want to use their phones during that time of leisure. Sometimes, specially in big groups of people, they place a rule that no one uses their phone (no, the punishment isn’t to pay the whole bill, since they normally don’t care what they pay for in this occasions). And it’s not weird to see people with dumb phones or no phones at all. In other places, people (specially young ones) will stare at you if you use a dump phone or say you didn’t bring your phone on purpose. In these exclusive places, it’s not that rare. If you ask wealthy people and their workers why, they’ll tell you this: people want to disconnect from their smartphones and the responsibilities and distractions they bring with. Most of them have a device with internet for work and specific leisure, and a a dumb phone as a personal device.
To match these experiences, I had to travel in the VIP class this August because there were no other economic options available for that day. While economic class characterizes itself for being more uncomfortable, with less space and loud chatter, VIP class has more comfortable, bigger and separated seats, which not only provide more space and relaxation for individuals, but also offer proper accommodation for plus size, disabled and elder people (I also saw these type of accommodations in the luxury restaurants which I talked about above). There are more quality TVs per seat, and the restaurant offers quality food instead of the junk food, the crisps and the candy of the economic space, served directly to your seat by the waiter. They even gave us free food and free internet!
Regarding the matter we’re talking about in this post, the windows were bigger which, added to the placement of the VIP section, offered fantastic views. The majority were looking through the window instead of using their smartphones, laptops or tablets. Not only that, but I saw more people with paper books, magazines (obviously, about luxury fashion, finances and real estate) and even some minimalistic mp3 players.
I think we can see a common denominator in these experiences, don’t we?
After all of these, I became more observant about habits in different economic backgrounds, in places frequented by workers, in places frequented by owners of businesses. I also recalled my past memories with friends and education.
In education, I remembered more patterns I didn’t pay much attention to at the time (I went to both public and private education, atheist and religious centers):
We didn’t have to bring our own laptops or iPads to work in class like in public education, with most schools obligating families nowadays to buy an expensive device for very young children. We were provided with the last technology.
With minors, phone usage was extremely forbidden in private education, while the public schools didn’t do much about it. Even teachers and workers weren’t allowed to use it during school hours, not even during recess. This happened because the parents didn’t want their children to be hooked to their phones, and the schools put anti-smartphone addiction rules. We were given several talks with experts about unhealthy usage of technology, and we were encouraged to socialize and play games with other students outside. Meanwhile, I pass next to the public schools when I go grocery shopping and I see everyone using their phones in recess.
Teachers in private education had timetables for checking emails and getting phone calls to get in contact with parents. You couldn’t send emails to your teacher after certain hours or certain days, since they wouldn’t even read it.
I’ve been in many houses from extremely rich people. I won’t say who or provide proof due to privacy reasons (I want to remain anonymous and stay out of trouble), but I recently visited one of the houses from the owner of a very famous shop worldwide you do know if you don’t live under a rock. And I saw these things:
Wealthier people perform more activities based on nature, exercise and no screens, even if they have all the streaming subscriptions and a massive TV. They encourage these activities on their children and are strict about them using iPads or iPhones. They have their own paddle competitions with their own idyllic places, They usually celebrate their birthdays in natural places.
They still have what we would call “old school technology”. Most of them still collect CDs, vinyls, DVDs and BluRays. They use them, with CD and DVD players and massive stereos. They barely use Spotify or Apple Music. If you asked them why, they’ll say they really own these pieces and they are reliable, sound better and you can use them without internet. They’re long-term investments for them. It is normal for them to show each other their collections when they have visitors.
They won’t allow their household workers to use their phone during work. Most will tell their workers to do the shopping by going to natural supermarkets and some selected shops instead of shopping online.
To end this long AF post, I’ll add these last observations:
In more exclusive designer shops, which aren’t the usual luxury brands we know like Gucci or Prada, they encourage the costumers not to buy online (some have websites, others don’t) but to reach the physical shop and see the pieces themselves. Instead of advertising online or giving digital discount codes, they give gift cards and premium experiences so the rich people will spread the word to other rich people. They even encourage you to bring your family and friends to the shop. It is a lucrative marketing tactic most rich people know of and take advantage of, which works not only for clothes but other luxury products like skin care.
They will pay more with cash and physical card than with their phone.
Even if they have a Kindle and a Kindle Unlimited Subscription, they will prefer to read physical books and they’ll have massive book collections they will show their visitors. It’s like a status thing, a proclamation, to have these type of collections. They will encourage their kids to read more physical.
They will have special timetables for business related phone calls and emails. Their workers aren’t allowed to call or mail them outside those hours.
Many of them will have people posting their social media photos and marketing for them.
It’s normal for them to have detox vacations with zero technology to completely disconnect and have quality time with their loved ones.
I think my point in this post is clear: in the chronically digital world we live in today, with most people not being able to put off their digital devices due to addiction and trying to make more money to bring food to the table and pay the bills, the higher classes have the privilege to disconnect and have a real meaningful life outside social media. Most of them, specially as the economical hierarchy goes higher, know the physical and psychological effects of digital overuse. They will try to have a more detached relationship with smart devices and go analog while they pay scientists, researchers and health care providers to downplay these consequences so more people get sick by unhealthy digital use, because it benefits their businesses. Their economical situation gives them flexibility to disconnect and put boundaries on technology, the services that cater to them are usually built around this digital mindfulness.
Meanwhile, middle and lower classes are pushed harder and harder from younger ages to use digital tools for their education and jobs, to have FOMO because everyone’s on the internet and everyone knows being updated in the last technological advances easies their lives and makes them more comfortable, while the mental health crisis becomes worse globally, people lose their jobs to technology, they become sick by moving less, eating worse and sleeping horribly, and get more burned out.
I think it’s time working classes become aware of this and take notes of the privileged classes to push politicians to create laws that provide the right for people to be offline, and create spaces and habits that favor our humanity and society.
Sorry for the long post and please remember these experiences come from me and people I know, experiences which were seen in different places, but that doesn’t mean these digital differences between classes are seen in every country, in every person or every environment.